Drinking heavy atoms and youthfulness

In a back room of New Scientist's offices in London, I sit down at a table with the Russian biochemist Mikhail Shchepinov. In front of us are two teaspoons and a brown glass bottle. Shchepinov opens the bottle, pours out a teaspoon of clear liquid and drinks it down. He smiles. It's my turn.I put a spoonful of the liquid in my mouth and swallow. It tastes slightly sweet, which is a surprise. I was expecting it to be exactly like water since that, in fact, is what it is - heavy water to be precise, chemical formula D₂O. The D stands for deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen with an atomic mass of 2 instead of 1. Deuterium is what puts the heavy in heavy water. An ice cube made out of it would sink in normal water.My sip of heavy water is the culmination of a long journey trying to get to the bottom of a remarkable claim that Shchepinov first made around 18 months ago. He believes he has discovered an elixir of youth, a way to drink (or more likely eat) your way to a longer life.Many anti-aging medications are based on supplementing your body's own defenses with antioxidant compounds such as vitamin C and beta-carotene, though there is scant evidence that this does any good.Shchepinov realized there was another way to defeat free radicals. While he was familiarizing himself with research on aging, his day job involved a well-established - if slightly obscure - bit of chemistry called the isotope effect. On Christmas day 2006, it dawned on him that putting the two together could lead to a new way of postponing the ravages of time.The basic concept of the isotope effect is that the presence of heavy isotopes in a molecule can slow down its chemical reactions.All of this is conventional chemistry: the isotope effect was discovered back in the 1930s and its mechanism explained in the 1940s. The effect has a long pedigree as a research tool in basic chemistry for probing the mechanisms of complex reactions.Shchepinov, however, is the first researcher to link the effect with aging. It dawned on him that if aging is caused by free radicals trashing covalent bonds, and if those same bonds can be strengthened using the isotope effect, why not use it to make vulnerable biomolecules more resistant to attack? All you would have to do is judiciously place deuterium or carbon-13 in the bonds that are most vulnerable to attack, and chemistry should take care of the rest.

Source:New Scientist November 27, 2008

damaged wind turbine

LONDON (Reuters) - Green energy company Ecotricity is investigating what mangled a wind turbine in England over the weekend, a spokeswoman for the company said.Press cited locals reporting a bright light at the time of the incident, in which one of the blades snapped off, and speculation that unidentified flying objects may have been responsible.
After inspecting the site, however, the Health and Safety Executive said on Thursday that the turbine at the Fen Farm wind farm in Lincolnshire had not been hit by an object. "It wasn't a collision," an HSE spokesman said, adding that investigations were continuing.The farm's operator, Ecotricity, was ruling nothing out."We are carrying out investigations at the site and until those have been concluded we don't want to speculate what the cause is but we can't rule anything out," the Ecotricity spokeswoman said."It happened early Sunday morning or late Saturday night," she said. "It's a completely unique incident ... it's just this single turbine."A spokesman for the manufacturer of the turbine, Germany's Enercon, said investigations were continuing.
The blades on Enercon's E-48 wind turbine are each more than 20 metres (65 ft) long, made of fibreglass and designed to withstand lightening strikes.Enercon is one of the world's largest wind turbine manufacturers with a 14 percent global market share in 2007.
"It's a good machine," said Jefferies analyst Michael McNamara of the Enercon product.
"All turbine manufacturers suffer breaks. It's what causes the break that's the issue," he said.Indian turbine maker Suzlon Energy had to recall blades in the United States when some cracked and broke, McNamara said.(Reporting by Daniel Fineren and Gerard Wynn

RUSSIA-UKRAINE 'COLD WAR' GRIPS EUROPE

KIEV - Schools closed, heating shut down and nearly a dozen European nations reported a cutoff of natural-gas supplies in one of the coldest winters in recent memory. Russia and Ukraine blamed each other in a dispute as bitter as the temperature with a cold front blanketing Europe. Thermometers fell to minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit in some capitals. "We can´t transit anything if there is nothing to transit," said Ihor Didenko, assistant chairman of Ukraine's Naftogaz, which operates pipelines that deliver 80 percent of Russia's natural gas to the rest of Europe. On a day when Orthodox Christians celebrated Christmas, Romania declared a state of emergency. Thousands of households in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, went without heat and Bulgaria turned off heating on buses and trains in Sofia. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ordered the state-owned energy giant Gazprom to cut all deliveries to Ukraine, and Ukrainian officials said the pipelines ran dry shortly after 7 a.m.Mr. Putin said gas would be turned on if international observers were in place to prevent Ukraine from stealing gas destined for the rest of Europe.
Russia supplies about 40 percent of Europe's natural gas. The U.S. sided with Ukraine. "Cutting off these supplies during winter to a vulnerable population is just something that is unacceptable to us," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said. National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley warned Russia that using gas for leverage over its neighbors could backfire. "A Russia that continues to threaten its neighbors and manipulate their access to energy will compromise any aspirations for greater global influence," he said. Supply disruptions were reported as far west as France. European leaders called on Moscow and Kiev to resolve the conflict, while energy ministers planned to meet in Brussels on Thursday. "Russia will resume its deliveries when the observer groups are in place," Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek told reporters in Prague. The Czech Republic holds the rotating presidency of the European Union. Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko called on Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to end the energy embargo, which began Jan. 1 over a commercial dispute between the two nations over the price of gas.
In a letter to the Kremlin, Mr. Yushchenko said Russia must "immediately renew the operative daily transit [of gas] to European countries." He also said he was "deeply concerned" by the worsening conflict between the two nations. "Without prior warning to the Ukrainian side, the Russian side closed the last crossing of Russian gas to Ukraine ... and in that way stopped the export of Russian gas to Europe," Oleh Dubina, head of Naftogaz, told reporters. Alexei Miller, head of Russia´s Gazprom, said the move was necessary because, he said, Ukraine was siphoning gas meant for European customers. "Unfortunately, there has been an open stealing of gas," he told journalists during a news conference in Brussels. "Russia has become a prisoner of Ukraine´s blame game." This is not the first time Kiev and Moscow have been at loggerheads over gas prices. Russia cut supplies to Ukraine in January 2006, causing similar supply disruptions throughout much of Europe. But that suspension only lasted a day, and since then both countries have tried to present themselves as reliable partners to the West - Russia as a gas supplier and Ukraine as a transporter. The current crisis has gone further than both sides anticipated. Neither has been able to agree on the price Kiev should pay Moscow for gas, or what Russia should pay Ukraine in transit fees. Natalia A. Feduschak in Kiev, The Washington Times, Thu, Jan 8, 2009

LINK: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/08/russia-ukraine-cold-war-grips-europe/

Gulf conditions ripe for cyclone says WB

The prospect of a cyclone developing over the next few days has firmed as flooding increases across parts of western and northern Queensland.The weather bureau says a strong monsoon low is expected to form in the northern Gulf of Carpentaria today and will intensify over the coming days, bringing more rain to the region.Meteorologist Peter Otto says a cyclone could develop over the next few days."There is a low pressure system over land at the moment, but the monsoon flow to its north into the northern Gulf is looking like increasing during Friday and even further on Saturday," he said.Higher than normal tides and coastal flooding are expected along western Cape York."We are looking at heights that people may have experienced in several strong monsoons over the last few years," Mr Otto said."It is definitely just the western Cape at the moment - so between Torres Strait and Pormpuraam."The possibility that that low on the southern Gulf coast may linger into the Gulf of Carpentaria waters over the weekend and could develop into a cyclone is a possibility."

The State Government has activated a disaster coordination centre to manage relief assistance to 12 disaster declared areas in the state's north-west.The damage bill has risen to more than $21 million.The State Government has sent a helicopter from Townsville to Mount Isa to help deliver emergency supplies.It is also on standby to carry out any evacuations.Transport to the region remains limited after a maintenance train derailed near Cloncurry yesterday, while many roads remain cut by floodwaters.A number of rivers have broken their banks and rain continues today.The flooding rains in Queensland's central west could be worth millions of dollars to the state's agricultural industry.Winton Mayor Ed Warren says the region was facing extremely dry conditions as little as two weeks ago, with cattle having to be moved out of the shire."To have the shire sort of extinguished of the ravages of drought is something that we always look forward to and it appears, at this stage, that we've got a good season in front of us," he said.

P&G tidal wave

Thousands of people living in coastal areas and in floating houses in Manokwari, West Papua province, fled to hills or other elevated places as a tidal wave hit the area at 12 am local time on Monday January 5 2009.The tidal wave which reached heights of up to five meters swept through the coastal villages of Borasi, Pasar Borobudur, Wirsi, Sanggeng, Wosi, Rendani, Kampung Ambon, Pasir Putih and also reached the city center.Earlier in the day, an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.5 on the Richter scale shook the Manokwari and Sorong areas but the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) said the temblor did not have the potential of triggering a tsunami.The earthquake caused cracks in the walls of a number of urban buildings, including Hadi Mall, Bank Mandiri, Bank Papua and Sanggeng Department Store. But there were no immediate reports of casualties. The epicenter of the earthquake was located at 1.17 degrees southern latitude and 131.94 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 50 km below sea level, 78 km southeast of Sorong, 199 km southwest of Manokwari and 144 km northwest of Kaimana, West Papua province.Water from the tidal wave also reached streets at the Manokwari city center causing thousands of people to rush out of buildings to find safer places. They took refuge in the hills of Reremi, Wosi, Rendani, Gunung Meja, Manggopai and at the University of Papua (Unipa) campus which is located in an area about 500 meters above sea level.)

http://visz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index.php?smp=&lang=eng

photo time

I thought it was time to remind myself and those who check this blog about my little piece of paradise. to the untrained eye it may seem just like another property but to me it's my bliss.
I'm including a photo of my son and Shnooky, the donkey, with the neighbours horses looking on. The alpaca is standing at the back.

Economic scenario

The engineers of the economic collapse aren’t finished with you yet. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done to scare you into agreeing to more outright theft of your sovereignty, freedom and wealth.The first milestones have been reached. As US Congress was warned in March, the economic collapse gained steam in September - right on schedule. The federal government has successfully created over $3 trillion, with MUCH more to come, in order to ensure the coming hyper-inflationary nail in the coffin. With that, they managed to nationalize banks and insurance companies and rescued other incompetent partners-in-crime on Wall Street and it is only beginning.Now for what is coming next:It was predicted at the end of October that the U.S. Dollar would collapse within 30 days.The dollar collapse will be accelerated by a COMEX default beginning on November 28th. More on what this will look like here. Colin Powell has warned of a “crisis” that will happen on January 21st or 22nd, 2009. It remains to be seen whether this staged event will be financial in nature.The U.S. government is expected to go bankrupt/default in February 2009.Make no mistake, none of this is happening by accident. Nor is it happening as a result of “bad” policy, not enough regulation etc. On the contrary, what is unfolding has been planned for decades.Preposterous you say? Not necessarily. Everything is not as it seems.